Through the White Light
by thomasharker
Summary: Follows on from series 2, so will contain spoilers. Curtis has gone missing and Simon realises that he will soon have to become the hero they knew as Superhoodie. Nathan tries to cope with the burden of fatherhood. Contains language and Nathan. Beware.
1. Part One

**Author's Note:** As usual, none of these characters are mine. Thanks to PB Headless for (repeated) beta reading, and apologies in advance for infrequency of updates, I only ever seem to write when I'm on holiday...**  
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* * *

Alisha sat behind the bar, flicking restlessly through an old gossip magazine she had found. This time last year, she would have been fascinated by all the ins and outs of celebrity life, who was going out with who, plastic surgery and numerous affairs, but now her own life seemed to outweigh anything a glossy magazine could offer her.

In the past year, she'd been struck by lightning, gained a (fairly crap) superpower, got a boyfriend, watched Nathan die, dug Nathan up again, lost a boyfriend, gained a boyfriend from the future, watched that boyfriend die, gained the same boyfriend, lost a superpower and- she smiled to herself- gained a new one.

She heard the door of the bar open and looked up. Simon and Kelly walked in, no longer embarrassed to be seen associating with each other, and sat at the bar. Alisha gave them both a pint and sat down opposite them. "So, what's up?" she asked.

"I fell off a roof again," said Simon, wincing slightly as Nathan walked in.

"So, guess who just got a tenner?" he grinned, sitting next to Kelly and grabbing Simon's pint.

"Hey, that's mine!" Simon complained. Nathan grimaced and drank it all in one go. Simon groaned.

"Alright, how'd you get a tenner?" Kelly asked to distract them.

"Wishing wells."

"What?"

"The wishing well in the park, for those disabled children. People chuck any old rubbish in there, it's disgraceful," Nathan said piously, "I went to tidy some of the shit out of it and look what I found!" He pulled his hand out of his pocket, clenching a crumpled, soggy ten pound note. "Either someone's really generous or really stupid. If I hadn't come along, this little beauty would have got all wet and fallen apart. And then those poor kids would have gone hungry." He reached over the counter and passed the note to Alisha, who placed it in the till with a sigh and passed him and Simon another beer.

There was a cough behind them, and they turned to see the probation worker, Shaun, standing in the doorway looking characteristically unenthusiastic. "What're you doing here?" Nathan asked accusingly.

"What makes you think I'm doing anything? I am allowed to drink the same as you lot are, you know."

Nathan looked disbelieving, and Shaun continued, "although actually, I've got to speak to you anyway."

"What about?" Alisha asked.

"I've been saddled with another load of paperwork. You lot need to come in to the community centre and sign stuff to say you haven't done anything else illegal since your probation ended."

Nathan began "but what if we-"

"I don't want to hear it, alright? Just come and sign the bloody papers and then fuck off home. Where's the other one?"

"The other one?"

"Tall black guy. Whatever his name was."

"You mean Curtis?" Alisha asked.

"Yeah, whatever. Tell him to come as well."

Alisha shrugged. "We haven't seen him for a few weeks, I don't know where he's gone."

"Oh, I dunno. Text him or something."

Nathan adopted an expression of mock surprise. "_Shit!_ If only we'd thought of texting him we'd have found him _ages_ ago! Thanks, man. You've been a real help."

"Whatever," Shaun said. "Listen, I don't really give a shit where he's gone, but it's easier for me to get the form signed than have to send off saying he's done a runner, alright?"

"His girlfriend died," Alisha said indignantly, "you could at least be a bit nicer about it."

Shaun shrugged. "Was that the girl that got shot in here at Christmas?" He noticed something on the floor and walked over to examine it. "Is that a blood stain?" he asked.

Simon stood up. "She was our friend."

Shaun looked as if he were about to argue, then thought better of it and left.

"Well done, man! You stood up to the probation worker!" Nathan cheered, clapping him on the back. "And you didn't kill this one, either!"

Simon paused for a moment, considering his next move. "You know, it's sometimes a real shame you're immortal."

* * *

"Okay," Seth said, leaning back in his chair and surveying the five teenagers who stood in front of him, "who's first?"

Nobody moved, each looking at the others as if daring them to make the decision for them.

"Oh, you're all such pussies! I'll do it!" the girl on the left, Kelly, said, walking over and sitting opposite him at the table. He took her hands in his.

"So, what do you want?" he asked, after glancing at the bundle of money she had just given him.

"What?"

"What power do you want?"

She looked around at her friends, who shrugged and shuffled their feet.

"Do you want me to decide for you?" Seth asked.

Kelly sighed. "Yeah, alright then. Just don't give me anything stupid or nothing."

"I wouldn't dream of it." He clasped her hand again and a burst of white light emitted from within. The others took a step back. He let go.

"Well, what was that?" she asked indignantly, "that ain't done nothing."

"Oh, it has," Seth smiled, leaning back in his chair again. "You just haven't found out _what_ yet."

* * *

Once Alisha had returned with ice for Simon, they began discussing what to do about Curtis.

"Well, are any of our powers going to be any good for finding him?" Alisha asked.

"Nah, mine's crap," Kelly complained. "Wish I'd chosen it myself now."

"Well," Nathan bragged, "I'm still immortal. Unkillable. Never-ending. You shoot me, I get right back up again. I am absolutely unstoppable." He took another large gulp from Simon's drink. "I'm untouchable." He paused. "But, no, I dunno where Curtis is."

Simon gave him a withering look. "I'll see if the Hoodie- if _I_- left any clues in the flat. I don't think that all of the photos that were on the walls have happened yet."

Alisha nodded. "Right, I'll come with you. Why don't you two go to his house, see if there's any clues there?"

Kelly stood up and made to leave. Nathan sat there for a moment, then seemed to realise everyone was staring at him and looked around. "What? I wasn't concentrating. What's going on?"

Kelly raised her eyebrows and dragged him out of his seat. "No, wait! I'm meeting Marnie later, I can't!" he protested.

"You can meet her then, then. Come _on_!"

Alisha watched them leave, then made to follow them out of the door. Simon grabbed her wrist.

"Alisha."

"What is it?"

"I've been thinking. About us."

Alisha looked worried. "What about us?"

"When _he_ came back, he said things wouldn't always stay the same. That things were going to happen that meant he had to do what he did."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, that means that something's going to happen to us. It means something is going to happen to _you_. If, at some point in the near future, I'm going to go back in time to find the past you, something must mean I can't be with the present you any more. And that worries me."

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's nothing to worry about. I'm right here."

"Yes," said Simon, distantly, "but for how long?"

They arrived at the flat a little while later, and straight away Simon set about examining the wall for any clues as to where Curtis could be. Alisha examined one of the clocks which the future Simon had used to count down to the important events. She noticed something and leaned forward for a closer look.

"What is it?" Simon asked, glancing over.

"The timers. They aren't plugged in."

Simon walked over to where she stood and together they managed to prise one of them away from the wall. In place of any wires, there was an envelope sellotaped to the wall behind. Simon took it, noticing his name on the front, and opened it. There was a letter inside.

"It's from- It's from _me_."

* * *

Seth looked at the four remaining teenagers. "Alright, I don't bite. Hand over the money and let's get this done, shall we?"

"Wait a minute," Kelly complained, "I don't even know if I've got a power yet. What the hell am I meant to do now?"

"Take a seat and wait for your friends. Keep quiet, I need to concentrate."

"Right, my turn!" Nathan interrupted, sitting at the table. "Give me my power back." Seth took his hands and the same flash of white light burst from it. Nathan looked underwhelmed.

"Is that it? It didn't tingle or _anything_!"

"Oh, it worked." Seth promised. "And next?" He motioned for someone else to join him, but Nathan was not satisfied.

"How do I know I'm immortal?" he asked. "It's quite convenient, isn't it, that if you _haven't_ given me my power back I won't be around to complain about it? How are you going to pr-" Seth pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot Nathan through the head. His body lay there for a moment, motionless, before he sat up again and shouted "_Bastard_!"

The others breathed a collective sigh of relief when they saw Nathan was alive- Kelly seemed to stop complaining about her lack of an obvious power and helped Nathan over to a chair in the corner. Simon sat in the chair opposite Seth and held out his hand.

"And what do you want?" Seth asked.

* * *

"Seriously, Kelly, I need to go and meet Marnie. We're taking Dylan to playgroup."

Kelly stopped and looked incredulously at Nathan. "Dylan? What kind of stupid fucking name is _Dylan_?"

"It's better than Bruno, at least. Anyway, I have to call him Dylan 'cos Marnie didn't like me calling him Little Donkey."

"...Right. When you've stopped being a dick, we need to find Curtis."

"Well, Marnie can help once we've dropped Dylan off. I'll be half an hour, I swear." He stopped and grinned. "Although you're not the first girl I've said _that_ to." He turned to walk away, and got a few metres away before he keeled over backwards, clutching his nose as if he had just walked into a brick wall. "Ouch! What the hell was that?"

"That was my new power, dickhead. I worked it out earlier."

"You can make invisible walls? That seems pretty cool to me, why'd you say it was rubbish?"

"Well, you can't do anything with it. I can make invisible walls, so what? I mean, you can't die. Mine's crap compared to that. Right, you coming or not?"

"Do I have any choice?"

Kelly shrugged, then shook her head. Nathan rubbed his sore nose, then pulled his phone from his pocket and called Marnie.

"Marnie! Hey! Listen, I might be a little bit late for Dylan's playgroup today, I'm looking for-"

Kelly was a few metres away from him but even she could her Marnie's reply. Nathan held the phone away from his ear.

"Late _again_! Oh, out saving the world again, are you? Very convenient! Well, you'd better remember that I'm here looking after the baby. What time do you want your tea? Or are you not going to eat now that you're a superhero?"

"I'm really sorry, Marnie, we just need to find Curtis. I haven't seen him since we got the powers back. I think he's-"

"No, stop there, Nathan. I'm coming to help you."

"What? What about the baby? What are you going to-"

"Oh, I'll leave him at my mum's. She'll look after him."

"And this didn't occur to you earlier? Like when I wanted to go to the pub but you said we had to give him a bath? Or when you made me take him to the zoo so you could get your hair done?"

"Well, you wouldn't have done any of that if I hadn't made you..."

Nathan paused, a look of comprehension dawning on his face. "You sneaky bitch," he said as Marnie hung up. He turned to Kelly. "I bet Superman never got this." He mimed talking on a phone. "'What's that? You need to go and stop a meteor crashing into the city? No, you're busy tonight. Tonight, we're going to change the baby's nappy.'"

"I think you're meant to change the nappies more than once a day," Kelly pointed out. Nathan pulled a face. "How would I know? It's a bag full of shit, do you think I'm going to want anything to do with it?"He tried to change the subject. "So, you get anything good for Christmas?"

"Yeah, an annoying little Irish bastard who follows me round everywhere," Kelly said, smiling slightly despite herself.

"Er- follows _you_ around everywhere? Who was it that dragged me here?"

"Come on, we need to find Curtis."

* * *

"Right, then. Just you left," Seth said once he had given Simon and Alisha their new powers. He looked at Curtis. "And what can I do for you?"

"I want my power back," he replied.

"Like I told you before, I haven't got your power any more."

"What have you got, then?"

"That depends on how much money you've got."

"I've got as much as the others. Now _give_ me a fucking power, I need to save my girlfriend."

"Oh, what's happened to her?" Seth asked, almost as if he were making conversation.

"She's dead," Curtis replied. "I need to go back and stop it."

"Well, I'm afraid I haven't got any time-travel powers left. I _did_ have one other one, but it was sold yesterday."

"Fine, just do whatever it was you did on the others. Just give me a power and we can get it over with." He held out his hand and Seth took it.

"There you go," he said a moment later, "although I'm not sure you're going to like it."

"Whatever," Curtis said, walking out of the room. The others followed a moment later without looking back at Seth, who began counting the money they had flung on the table in front of him. He smiled.

* * *

Elsewhere, under the flickering glow of a dying streetlamp, Curtis stood watching a house. He had not moved for over an hour. The bedroom light turned off. Curtis turned and walked away. Soon, he thought. Soon.


	2. Part Two

**Author's Note:** As usual, none of these characters are mine. Thanks to PB Headless for beta reading again.**  
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* * *

Isaac Fried sat wearily up in bed as his alarm went off again. He had been awake for a while, of course, those bloody teenagers had seen to that, with their bloody cars and their bloody swearing all the time. Joyriding, Isaac had heard it called in the papers. Fat lot of joy it brought him.

He creaked slowly out of bed and went to put the kettle on. A moment later, he realised that he had run out of teabags, and he couldn't stand the taste of coffee. He poured the hot water down the sink and turned the television on. Someone had been arrested. Shame nobody would arrest those bloody kids.

He sat on the sofa and opened the shoebox he kept on the coffee table. He spread all of the photos out in front of him and gazed at them. Him and his mother, when he was just a baby. His father in his new uniform. His mother and his sister, sitting on the front step of their house.

It wasn't working. He picked up another piece of paper, covered in numbers. Statistics. Six million dead over six years.

He tried harder, but still it didn't work. He was still here, and now, and alone.

One day, one day soon, it _will_ work, he thought.

One day soon, I'm going to kill Hitler.

* * *

"Right, how are we going to get in?" Kelly asked Nathan.

"What? You dragged me all the way here against my will and you don't even know how to get _in_?"

Kelly shrugged. "Alisha sort of told us to come here so I took you with me. You know her and Simon wanted to be together."

Nathan looked sceptical.

"Oh, for fuck's sake! You're really crap at this, aren't you? Simon's worried cos he's going to go back in time, but that means he's got to leave Alisha. And Alisha's worried cos she doesn't want him to go back in time because she saw him die."

"Right, yeah. That's compassion isn't it?" Nathan asked, "I'm not overly good at compassion. I prefer to go out and get pissed and then swear at people."

Kelly glared.

"Alright, alright! I'll give them a bit more space! Honestly! And while we're on the subject of respecting people's privacy, I can't help but feel now would be a good moment to break into our bereaved friend's house. After you…" He held up a key, a smug grin on his face. "Everyone leaves the spare key next to the front door. It was under that flowerpot. Easy."

"Wait!" A voice came from behind. Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Marnie!" Nathan exclaimed, wheeling round to greet his girlfriend.

"What's happening?" she asked, "why are we just waiting around here?"

"We were waiting for you," Kelly said. "Shall we get on with it?"

They unlocked the door and went inside. It was a small flat, with a sofa in one corner opposite a small television. Kelly walked through to the bedroom, while Nathan and Marnie began searching the living room.

"Are we sure this is _definitely_ his flat? Only last time we did something like this I ended up shitting on Nikki's bed," Nathan called through to Kelly.

"Yeah, there's all his trophies in here."

Marnie stopped for a moment and looked at Nathan. "You shat on a bed?"

"It was a friend's bed, to be fair. Well, we were friends afterwards. Well, not really, I shat on her bed, but we were _kinda_ friends."

Marnie shook her head in disgust.

"Hey, that's pretty rich coming from the girl who wet herself in the middle of the Community Centre," Nathan retaliated.

"I was pregnant, you were just being a dickhead," Marnie replied. Nathan grinned.

* * *

"What is it, Simon? What does it say?" Alisha asked, trying to read the letter over his shoulder. Simon said nothing, his face expressionless. He folded the letter and put it in his pocket.

"I can't tell you," he replied. "It's too soon."

"But- is it _bad_? Is something wrong?"

Simon nodded faintly. Alisha put her arm around his shoulder. "It's alright," she said. "You're not _him_ yet, are you? You're still here, and you're still with me. You're Simon, not the guy in the Hoodie."

"But I think I might be," Simon said, breaking away from her and standing up. "I'm training, I'm practising parkour, and I'm getting better, and I've got the apartment, and the clothes he left behind. I think I'm nearly there."

"Simon, you-"

"I need to do it, Alisha. But I'm not going to leave yet. He said that something happens that means we can't be together, so I need to live the rest of my life before then. I need to spend as much time with you as I can, before it's too late."

"Me too," said Alisha, "and who knows? Maybe it won't happen. Maybe we'll just grow up and move on and you'll never have to go back." She smiled. "Let's hold onto that, eh?" She stopped as her phone rang. "It's Kelly," she told Simon. "Hello?" she said, answering the phone.

There was a pause. "Okay, I'll see you there." She hung up. "They've found something, they know where Curtis might be."

"Alright, you'd better go and find him."

"What about you?" Alisha asked, looking worried.

"I just… I need to sort some things out. I'll catch up with you later."

Alisha hesitated, but nodded and left. Simon sighed to himself and watched the clocks on the wall. Soon. Soon he would become his own future.

* * *

Those bloody kids again. In broad daylight, as well. Isaac Fried grumbled to himself as he opened the front door to put the bins out. There was another one, a tall black boy leaning on the lamppost opposite his house.

"Go away!" Isaac shouted. "Go on! Bugger off!"

The boy did nothing, just looked around and stood there, as if he were waiting for something.

Isaac tutted and went back inside. Things would change, soon. If only he could work out how to use this power he had bought. He knew he shouldn't have trusted that bloody dealer. The power had only worked once, when he realised he'd missed Countdown. He found himself ten minutes into the past, just in time to watch it from the beginning. Since then, nothing.

Soon, though. He'd crack it soon.

* * *

"Over here!" Marnie called, brandishing a sheet of paper. Nathan and Kelly turned to look at her. "I think it's a clue! Or something."

"Marnie," Kelly said, taking the paper from her, "you keep saying that. Is it actually anything worth looking at, or is it another pizza menu?" She was beginning to get exasperated. She'd already had to make a force field between Nathan and Marnie to stop them snogging every few seconds, and she wasn't sure they were taking this very seriously. She looked at the paper she held in her hand. "No, wait, this is good actually," she said sheepishly.

Marnie grinned. Nathan tried to look over Kelly's shoulder at it, but found himself bumping against the invisible wall like a bird that hadn't worked out that windows were made of glass. Kelly disabled it and they gathered round.

Printed on the paper was a photo of an elderly man, underneath which was written a name and address in Curtis' handwriting. _Isaac Fried, 42 Overman Terrace_.

"We need to tell the others," Kelly said, heading towards the door. She stopped in her tracks as she saw a head peer around the doorway. "Who are you?" she asked indignantly.

The man in front of her was in his mid-thirties, with dark brown hair parted in the middle. He looked at her, as if considering something. "Are you the owner of this house?" he asked, stepping further into the room.

"No, it's our friend's. We were-"

"Stop there, miss. Detective Inspector Cooper, Wertham Police Force. I have reason to suspect you have…"

Before Cooper could say any more, Kelly had created a forcefield around him and yelled "come on!" to the others. The three of them sprang out of the door, racing along the road away from Curtis' house. They only stopped ten minutes later and bent over, panting. "Well, that was fun, but we really ought to find Curtis," Nathan said, "I mean, I do _love_ running away from the police as much as anyone else, but I've only just finished one lot of community service, I'd rather not start another one."

Kelly got her phone out and called Alisha. "_Don't tell her we nearly got arrested_!" Nathan hissed, but Kelly shushed him with a wave of her hand.

"Alisha, we've got something. I think we've found Curtis."

* * *

Once Alisha had left, Simon took the letter out of his pocket and read it again. He closed his eyes and lay back on the bed, his mind racing. What now, then? What should he do now that he knew-

He sat up, and quickly scanned the letter. Realising what he had missed, he leapt to his feet and hurried out of the door. He had to find Curtis, and he knew exactly where to look.

"Curtis!" he exclaimed, arriving opposite Isaac Fried's house fifteen minutes later. He'd taken the quick route, out of the apartment's skylight and over the rooftops across the estate. He hadn't fallen or tripped once.

Curtis looked up, surprised. "How did you find me?"

"The Hoodie. The future me, he left me a note. You need to stop, this isn't going to work." Simon looked seriously at his friend. Curtis wasn't looking at his best, Simon had to admit, and he couldn't have eaten very well since he had stormed out a fortnight ago.

"Leave it, I know what I'm doing."

"No," insisted Simon, "you don't. This is all going to go wrong if you carry on like this."

"No, I-" Curtis began to protest but at that moment the door of the house opposite opened and an old man stepped out. Simon ducked behind a bush and watched as Curtis walked over to him. The man seemed irritable, and began to walk away, but Curtis followed him along the road, talking. Simon could not hear what they were saying, but both seemed equally insistent not to give up their power.

The man eventually seemed to win the argument, and Curtis sat, dejected, on the pavement. Simon crept out from behind the bush and hurried over to him. "Well?" he asked, looking at Curtis.

"He's not going to give it up. He says he needs to kill Hitler."

Simon thought for a moment, then stood up and ran after the man.

"Wait!" he cried. Isaac turned and looked at him.

"Another one, eh?" he croaked, "well, I'm not changing my mind. Just leave me to it, I'm going to do it. Soon."

Simon looked sympathetic. "You're not, though. Are you? You've tried, but it's not working."

Isaac stopped in his tracks, studying the awkward youth who stood before him. "What do you mean?"

"How old were you? When the Holocaust started?"

"Three. I was only three." He grabbed Simon's arm. "Can you imagine what that's like? To lose everything at that age? I can't even remember my parents. I only know what they look like from my photographs."

Simon nodded slowly. "I really am sorry for you, but that's not the way the power works. When you use it you end up the same age as you were at the time. You need to feel remorse in order for the power to activate and even if you could get it to work you'd be a three-year old boy again. You would have no way of preventing those things from happening and you would have to live them all over again."

"…You're right. I wouldn't stand a chance. I… I'll give the power back to that boy." He turned around and headed back to Curtis. "I've changed my mind. I'm going to give you your power back."

Curtis looked incredulously at Simon, as if it were a joke. Simon smiled, and gestured for Curtis to go with Isaac. They walked together towards the building Seth had made into his shop. "I'm going to go and meet Alisha," Simon said, "tell her what's happened."

Isaac groaned as he heard the sound of cars a few streets away. "Those bloody teenagers again," he mumbled, before realising who he was with. "No offence meant, of course. Now whereabouts was-"

He stopped mid-sentence as the joyriders came racing around the corner. One saw the two pedestrians in time but another, a red sports car, did not stop. It sped past its opponent and cannoned into the startled figure of Isaac, hurling him a few metres across the tarmac before hurrying on, eager not to be caught. The car it had been racing hesitated, then followed before Curtis could see a numberplate. He knelt down next to Isaac's crumpled body.

"No, _no_, don't die. I need to save Nikki! _I need to save Nikki!_"

Isaac looked up at the boy kneeling over him and gave a sad smile. "I'm sorry about your girlfriend. I'll say hello to her for you." His eyes came unfocused and his head slumped to one side. Curtis stood up and stared in the direction of the fleeing joyriders. His power had died with Isaac. Once again, he had no idea what he was going to do next.


	3. Part Three

**Author's Note:** As usual, none of these characters are mine. Thanks to PB Headless for beta reading again.**  
**

* * *

Alisha sat behind the bar, thumbing through the magazine she had heard the previous afternoon. She had met up with the others and they had shown her the address. Simon hadn't answered his phone, and she'd called him twice, so Nathan and Marnie had gone to check out the address and look for Curtis while she and Kelly stayed and waited for Simon to come back. She put the magazine down with a sigh.

She stared aimlessly into the middle distance, wondering what had happened to Simon. She hoped he was okay, she'd left him a bit-

"Bloody hell! What the fuck just happened?" Kelly exclaimed, leaping from her seat.

"Sorry," Alisha said, breaking from her thoughts and realising what she had done. In the middle of the room stood an exact copy of Simon, from the nervous stance to the pale skin. He _also_ happened to be naked. "Er… I think I'm a bit distracted," Alisha said, quickly manifesting some clothes for him. Simon stood completely still, staring straight ahead. Alisha concentrated again and he disappeared.

"Was… was that the _real_ Simon?" Kelly asked, looking in amazement at Alisha.

"No, just an illusion. That's the new power I got, I can make illusions. You can walk through them and everything, though, they're not solid or anything. Still, it's quite cool."

"So you just think about something, and it appears?"

"Well, not everything. I have to think hard enough about it for it to happen, but… I suppose I must have drifted off then. I was just thinking about Simon, and I…"

Kelly smiled faintly. "You'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

"No, I'm not. I-"

At that moment, the door opened and Simon walked in. He seemed happier now, less anxious than he had been last time Alisha had seen him. In her surprise and happiness at seeing him again, the illusion flickered momentarily back into existence next to her. She'd shown Simon her power earlier, however, so he didn't seem too surprised. She dismissed the illusion and the three of them took a seat in one of the booths.

"I've got good news," Simon said with a smile. "Curtis is going to get his power back. He found the Jewish guy who bought it off of the dealer."

Kelly and Alisha's faces lit up as the news sank in. "How do you know? Did you see Nathan and Marnie?" Alisha asked.

"No, I found Curtis. We managed to convince Isaac to give the power back."

"Curtis? But how did you know where to-" Kelly began, but Alisha already knew the answer. "The Hoodie. It was in that letter, wasn't it?"

Simon nodded.

"Can I see it?" Alisha asked, "now that it's over?"

Simon hesitated, but nodded slightly and pulled an envelope from his pocket. "Here. Just don't overreact."

"Why would I-" Alisha started, but a look from Simon silenced her and she began to read.

* * *

_Simon._

_First of all, don't panic. For now, at least. I was you, not so long ago, and I can remember what it felt like reading this. Alisha is standing next to you right now doing that look of hers she always does when she knows something's up. It feels strange, remembering her and knowing that in a way, I'm still there. I don't think I'll ever get used to time travel._

_And yes, I'm aware that I'm going to die. When I first read this letter, when _you_ are first reading this letter, it seems so scary, such a big leap to make, that I never thought I could do it. Now, though, it just feels right. I'm not going to enjoy it, obviously, but I know that that's what I need to do to make sure things turn out right. To make sure everything happens as it should._

_Right. In order for those things to happen, there are a few things that you need to do. First, once Alisha's left, you need to wait for half an hour and then go to 42 Overman Terrace. Curtis will be waiting there. You'll know what to do._

_Next, you need to go back to Alisha at the bar and wait for the others to arrive. After that, someone else is going to turn up. Even though it seems unimportant, you need to go with them and do what they ask. It'll be important later on._

_Thirdly, you have to trust your friends. Kelly, Curtis, Nathan, Alisha. They will all play a part in this and you have to keep them close. Without them, everything will have been for nothing._

_Finally, and you need to do this no matter what else happens, you need to do what needs to be done. Even when it seems like everything has failed, you need to keep going. Keep following these instructions, and keep doing the right thing. Behind every team of superheroes is someone who has made the ultimate sacrifice, and you need to be that person._

_And now, Simon, I need to stop the warnings and give you an apology. You know that big bad event I told Alisha about, that meant I had to come back here? It's coming, soon. And the worst part is that I can't even tell you what it is, because if I did it wouldn't happen the same way. I really am incredibly sorry, Simon. Please, forgive me._

_Goodbye. And good luck._

* * *

Nathan and Marnie rounded the corner onto Overman Terrace, glancing around for any sign of Curtis or this Isaac bloke. Nathan saw Curtis standing in the middle of the road and hurried over to him.

"Curtis! Where the hell have you been? We haven't seen you in weeks! Wh-" He stopped in his tracks, noticing for the first time the body of an elderly man at Curtis' feet. "Oh. Shit."

Marnie looked in disgust at the body that lay before them. "Ew. That's- who was that? Curtis?"

Curtis looked up. He had been staring at the body, as if that could bring it back to life. "That was the Jewish guy. Who had my power."

"Is he-?" Marnie asked.

"Yeah, he's pretty dead, I should think," Nathan said, grimacing. "Come on, we need to move him. We can't let anyone else find him."

"What _happened_?" Marnie asked Curtis as Nathan attempted to drag Isaac's body into a nearby bush.

"We were going to go and get my power back. A car hit him. It was too quick, there was nothing I could do."

"_Nathan_! What are you doing?" Marnie yelled at him, "stop that and come back here _right_ now."

Nathan left Isaac's body where it was and skulked back over to Marnie. "I was just hiding-"

"He was hit by a car, Nathan. You're not in trouble."

"Sorry," Nathan said, "it's just instinct."

Marnie looked confused. "And how many bodies have you hidden in the past?"

Nathan glanced at Curtis, who shook his head slightly. "Er… none! Obviously. Shall we go, before- _SHIT!_" He stared over Curtis' shoulder at something neither of the others could see.

"What is it?" Marnie asked, worried.

Nathan grinned. "You know, I almost forgot I could do this!"

* * *

Nikki felt the bullet hit her before she even realised what had happened. She collapsed onto the floor, feeling her blood seep out of the wound and knowing, unequivocally, that she was going to die. Her eyes closed slowly, and she faded into emptiness.

There was a white light, she thought. Or maybe she was imagining it. She felt almost weightless. Hang on, she thought, I'm dead. How can I even be thinking this? She saw the light fade into the distance. She stood up and looked around.

She was in the bar still. Curtis and the others were standing around looking shocked, and the prick who had shot her had run away. Great. She was dead, and all they could do was stand there. Idiots.

She had a strange feeling that this was going to take some time. There was a strange feeling in her stomach, and she found herself in the Community Centre. The guy who had shot her ran into the changing room, up to a pale man with sleek black hair and a predatory smile.

They were saying something, about having shot her, but it was as if she was hearing them though a thick wall. Everything was muffled, and now she thought about it she couldn't see very well either. The scene before her misted over like condensation on a window, and she faded out again.

Now she was in the shop where that guy had bought her power. The others were there too, crowded round deciding what to do next. One by one, they stepped forward and sat opposite the dealer. Once they had all got their new powers, Curtis stood hurriedly and rushed out of the room. Nikki followed him.

She couldn't tell how much time passed, or how long she had been dead for, but sometime later she found herself standing invisibly behind Simon and Curtis, watching a house. An old man came out of the front door and Curtis ran across to meet him. She watched as they argued, then Simon joined in, and then finally Curtis and the man walked away. A car came speeding around the corner and hit the man, killing him instantly. He stood up and looked at Nikki in amazement.

"Where did you come from?" he asked her.

She sighed. "We're dead, you just got hit by that car. Sorry."

The man looked down the road as the cars got further away. "Well, can't we do anything? Can't we stop them?" He looked at Nikki. "And who are you, anyway?"

"I'm his girlfriend," she replied, indicating Curtis. "Ex-girlfriend now, I suppose. And no, I don't think we can do anything. We just stay here, and watch what happens next."

Seeing Curtis, he seemed to remember something. "My power. I was going to give him my power so he could save his girlfriend. That must be you, mustn't it?" He extended a hand. "My name's Isaac. I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

"Nikki," she said, shaking his hand. "Now, what are we going to do now?"

Two more people turned the corner onto Overman Terrace. "They're Curtis' friends," Nikki explained to Isaac. "Nathan and Marnie." The newcomers gathered around Isaac's body, and Nathan began to drag it away.

"Hey! What's he doing? Where's he-" Isaac made to run after his body. Nikki tried to stop him, tried to hold him back, but she felt the pressure in her stomach again and the world faded around her. She opened her eyes. She was still standing in the road, Isaac's ghost a few metres away standing over his corpse whilst Curtis, Nathan and Marnie stood discussing their next move. Nathan stopped and stared over Curtis' shoulder, straight at Nikki.

"You can see me?" she asked, delighted to have some human contact after so long. Other than Isaac, at least.

"Yeah, I can see you," Nathan exclaimed. "Er… How are you?"

Nikki raised an ethereal eyebrow. "Dead, mostly. Are you the only one who can see me?" She looked around. Marnie was looking at Nathan as if he had gone mad, but Curtis had realised what was going on. "Wait, is it Nikki? Can you see her?"

"Yeah, she's right behind you. And that Jewish guy."

Curtis' face lit up. "Nikki? Can you hear me?"

She nodded, and Nathan said, "yeah, man. She's listening."

"Are… are you okay? I mean, are you…"

"I'm fine. It's weird, but I'm fine. You'd think it'd hurt, being dead, but I'm coping alright, really. I'm glad you're okay, too. I missed you."

"Is there any way I can bring you back? I've got to try and find-"

Nikki never heard the rest of the sentence. She tried her best to hold on, to focus, to stay there, but she lost her grip and faded out again. Nathan patted Curtis on the shoulder. "She's gone, man. She'll be back soon."

In the distance, but getting closer, they heard police sirens. A policeman ran around the corner, spied the three of them standing there, and gave a shout. He ran towards them, and they fled in the opposite direction. Nathan looked back over his shoulder and groaned in disbelief. "It's him again!" he said to Marnie, "that detective guy from earlier!"

They rounded a corner and found themselves faced with a brick wall. Curtis grabbed them both by the wrists and leapt through it.

"Jesus!" Nathan shouted in alarm, thinking that Curtis had propelled them straight into the wall. "What the-" he paused. "-oh. New power."

Curtis nodded. "Come on, we need to get back to the others before that guy finds us."

Nathan followed him, smirking. "I've still got the best power, right? You can jump through walls and Kelly can make force fields. But me? I'm still immortal." He turned to see Marnie glaring at him. "Not that there's anything wrong with not having a power…"

* * *

Simon looked up expectantly as the door opened and someone entered the bar. Since Alisha had read the letter, he had been waiting for the next piece of the puzzle to slot into place and to get one step closer to his destiny. On the other hand, the last three times that door had opened, it had been customers who Alisha had had to serve and who had then gone on their way. So much for destiny.

This time it was Curtis who came through the door, Marnie and Nathan close behind. They looked out of breath, as if they had been running. They barely had time to sit down and begin explaining, however, when the door opened again. Everyone turned to stare at the newcomer, but it was Simon who said what they were all thinking.

"_You_?"


	4. Part Four

**Author's Note:** As usual, none of these characters are mine.

* * *

The gang's shouts rang out, filling the warehouse and threatening to wake someone.

"_Fight! Fight! Fight!_"

Ryan looked around, nervously surveying his surroundings. He had no hope of escaping, of course, but it gave him something to do and meant he didn't have to think about what was happening. To his right, Tom gave him a nudge. "Come on, keep up!" Ryan turned to face the middle of the circle again, noticing that the others had closed in and were chanting faster.

Liam would win. Liam always won. That was the rule. Liam was biggest, and strongest, and toughest, and so even if it looked like Liam might not win this time, and someone new was going to beat him, Liam would definitely win. If anyone didn't realise that that was the way it was, and that Liam was the best at everything, then Liam would teach them. Then they would remember who was meant to win. Ryan did not like Liam.

Ryan didn't really like _any_ of this. He certainly didn't like the fighting, or the stealing. He didn't like the smoking, or the drinking. What Ryan _did_ like was reading, and listening to music. Not the kind of music this lot listened to, he thought, but decent music. Stuff with a tune, and intelligent lyrics. Repeated use of the word 'bitches' does not make music good, he thought. Only ever thought, of course. Never out loud. Liam wouldn't agree.

There was a cry from the crowd, and Ryan assumed that meant Liam had won again. He didn't look. He couldn't look.

"Alright, who's next?" Liam asked, cracking his knuckles and looking around at his gang. There were about fifteen of them in all, with Liam as their leader. The previous victim slunk off into a corner to lick his wounds and those remaining formed a circle again. Before Ryan knew what was happening, he felt a shove behind him and he found himself sprawling into the centre of the makeshift arena, Liam standing over him like a towering predator. He stood up and tried to get out of the circle, but nobody would let him through. Liam grabbed his shoulder and wheeled him round to face him. He smiled, a shark with the scent of blood in its nostrils. "Ready to play?"

* * *

"_You_?" Simon said in surprise, "_you're_ my destiny?"

"I'm touched, kid," Shaun said with a frown, "but I don't think you're my type." He looked around and saw Curtis sitting at the table behind Simon. "Oh, you're back then? Nice of you to tell me. You lot need to come and sign those papers, otherwise I'm still responsible for your wellbeing. And believe me, I'd rather not have anything to do with you." He turned and sauntered out again, leaving Alisha and Simon to look at each other, confused.

"What's he got to do with the Hoodie?" Alisha asked, "I thought we were done with our community service?"

"Me too," he replied. "But I wouldn't have told us to go with him if there wasn't a good reason behind it. We need to do it, to make sure the future happens like it's supposed to." He stood up and prepared to leave. The others followed him.

"Oh, so I'm just going to stay here on my own, am I?" Marnie asked as they walked out of the door.

"Go home and see Dylan," Nathan told her. "I'll see you later."

"So," he continued as they walked to the community centre, "what should we do about this Cooper guy, anyway?"

Simon and Alisha stopped and looked at him. "What?"

"That police guy. Cooper. Whatshisface. You know, he chased us away from… no?" He stopped. "Oh, right, you two weren't there. There was this guy, and he found us breaking into Curtis' house, and then-"

"You broke into my house?" Curtis exclaimed indignantly.

"Yeah, I can explain that later. And then when I was trying to hide Isaac's body he-"

"You killed Isaac?" Simon interrupted.

"No, of course not. I was just disposing of the evidence, but-"

"Stop!" Kelly yelled, making everyone jump and turn to look at her in surprise. "Everyone's confused, right? So let's just talk about stuff before we do anything-" she looked at Nathan "-stupid."

"Hey, I resent that," he countered, "coming from the girl who hit our probation worker over the head with a fire extinguisher and then slept with a gorilla."

"Oh, you always bring that up, don't you? Bruno was nice, why d'you have to…?"

"Yeah, well. Nice and human aren't necessarily the same thing."

"Guys, just calm down," Simon said. "Kelly's right. We need to talk, sensibly, about what we need to do now. Curtis, is Isaac dead?"

Curtis nodded. "He got hit by a car just after you left."

"Right, so we're not going to get your power back. Nathan, can you use your power at all to contact him?"

"He's right next to you, man. He's been following us ever since we found Curtis. How did you know, anyway? I only just remembered I could do it when Nikki started giving me the evil eye!"

"You can see Nikki as well?" Alisha asked, looking around as if she might be able to do the same.

"Yeah, but she's not here at the moment. She keeps fading in and out, like she's got bad reception or something. Wish the old guy'd do the same, he's creeping me out a bit."

Alisha turned to Simon. "That letter. It said you had to make the ultimate sacrifice. What if-" she sighed, shook her head. "I thought we'd be safe following the letter's instructions, because you knew what to do. But if it said you had to do what needed to be done, no matter how much you're going to want not to do it, maybe… The Hoodie sent you to Isaac even though he knew he was going to die. Maybe the stuff in that letter's not going to save us. Maybe it's going to lead us to the end. Towards whatever's going to break us apart."

Simon nodded. "I thought of that. I think that… _thing_, whatever it is, is nearly here. The only clear instructions the letter left were to find Isaac and go with the probation worker, and we've done those already. Which means that anything from now on is either going to happen soon or be so unavoidable we don't need instructions."

Nathan let out a whistle. "Phew! Glad that's nothing to worry about then! Er… is anyone going to explain what this letter is, or what?"

* * *

Liam threw the first punch, but Ryan managed to dodge out of the way just in time. He wasn't going to fight back, that would be stupid, but he could at least try and stop himself being hurt too badly. From the little of the fights he had been unable to avoid seeing, he gathered that Liam tended to start off small and work up to a triumphant finish. He liked to show off, liked to look cool in front of his 'friends'. And then there were the powers to reckon with.

That was how this whole gang had started, really. After that storm, people started realising that they could do these new, weird things, and naturally wanted somewhere to show off about it. It had started small, a group of friends who'd been out together when the lightning struck. Then it widened, and more and more super-powered people were coming forward. Then Liam joined. He quickly established himself as the new leader, through intimidation or brute strength, and before long he had transformed the group into his own personal fight club. Ryan had joined by accident, heard about it through a friend. He hadn't got round to checking it out for a while, but by the time he did Liam had taken over and he had no way out. Now they knew where he lived, who his friends were, where he went to school and, more importantly, they were bigger than him. He'd tried to use his power to go back in time and stop himself ever joining, but he didn't have that much control over it so far. And so he was stuck here. Liam's new plaything.

Ryan ducked another of Liam's punches, hoping that he would give up and leave him alone. Obviously not. Just then, he saw the sign he was looking for. Liam's left eye gave a twitch, and Ryan thought he saw something stir inside his opponent- something dangerous. Liam had activated his power. Through instinct rather than any kind of common sense, Ryan did the same. Liam would be annoyed, he knew, that he'd dared to fight back, but there was nothing else Ryan could do. He opened his eyes. Where had he ended up this time?

In fact, _when_ had he ended up?

* * *

Kelly pushed open the door of the community centre to find Shaun waiting for them. "This way," he said, leading them down the corridor to his office.

"We _do_ know where the office is," Kelly pointed out, "we're not thick."

Shaun looked her up and down but said nothing. He handed each of them a piece of paper and a pen, and then sat lounging in his chair. "Go on then, sign it."

Simon read the form, unblinking with concentration. "Stop," he said. "This isn't right."

"What?" Nathan complained, "I've already signed it! Come on, let's just go."

"No, really. Stop. Everyone, stop right now." Simon could feel everyone's eyes on him. Even Shaun looked up from staring at his fingernails.

"What is it?" asked Alisha, looking over the contract again. "I can't-" she stopped as she realised what he was talking about.

"What?" Kelly asked, rushing over to them. Nathan and Curtis crowded round. Simon pointed to a passage about halfway through the legal language Nathan had skipped. "Look. This agreement removes the undersigned from the custody of the Community Payback, on the condition that no further offences be committed and that any superhuman powers, abilities or skills be relinquished until further notice."

"What! They're taking our _powers_?" Nathan exclaimed. "Well, that's bullshit! They'll have to fight to get mine off me and I'm telling you, that's not going to be easy. I've got a black belt in karate! And I'm immortal, for fuck's sake! They're not taking _that_ off me!" He looked at Shaun. "Are they?"

Shaun shrugged. "I dunno. It wasn't my idea, I just got told to give you those papers and get you to sign them."

"Well, whose idea was it?" Simon asked, "and how did they find out about us?"

"That would be me," a voice came from behind them, as the door opened. They turned to see the policeman, Cooper, standing in the doorway with a look of triumph in his eyes. "Well, now that I've got your attention…"

"How did you find out? How did you know about us?"

"Oh, it wasn't hard. I was out in that storm too, you know. I was off duty, I'd popped out to get some bread and milk. I was just shopping. Then all of a sudden, the sky clouds over and hailstones the size of my hand start pelting down at me. I got to cover in time. I saw people hit by that lightning and then just get up, and carry on as if nothing had happened. I saw those people change, and develop powers. The crime rate soared, what with people trying out their new abilities. Nobody else realised why, but I did. I knew that out there, somewhere, there were criminals with superpowers. And, quite understandably, that worried me. I realised that the only way to stop them was to level the playing field. Which is where you come in.

You- Curtis, isn't it? You can pass through solid objects. Imagine a policeman who could catch any fleeing criminal.

You, Alisha, create illusions. Any burglars would be reluctant to come out if they saw an entire army surrounding their houses.

Kelly. If anyone tried to start a fight, I could just trap them inside a force field. Problem solved.

And Nathan. Well, I think you can see the advantages of immortality already, can't you? Law enforcement's a dangerous job, especially on an estate like this. If I weren't able to die, that really would be… useful.

So, then. I'm sure you'll appreciate exactly what I'm doing here, when I say I really would quite like your powers, please." He looked at each of them in turn, and appeared to be genuinely sincere.

"Even if we _were_ going to give you our powers, which we're not, how would we transfer them?" Simon asked.

"Oh, you're Simon, aren't you?" Cooper said, turning to him. "I'm afraid I don't know much about you. What's your power, again?"

Simon did not answer. Instead, he rose from his chair and motioned for the others to follow him. He took the contracts from the desk and tore them into pieces, then threw the pieces in the bin. "Come on," he said, "we're leaving."

Cooper shook his head and the door shut behind him without anyone touching it. "No, you're not actually. I'm placing you under arrest on suspicion of the murders of Tony Morecambe and Sally Jones . I'm going to have to ask you all to accompany me to the station."

As if they were thinking as one person Nathan, Simon and Curtis all stood back and let the girls through. Kelly materialised a force field around Cooper, while Alisha threw brightly-coloured flashing illusions around the room to disorientate them. The five of them linked arms, and Curtis drew them through the closed door and into the foyer. They turned and watched through the glass as Shaun and Cooper struggled against Kelly's constraints, half-blinded by the illusions.

"Well, that was crap," Nathan said as they walked hurriedly away from the community centre. "You three got to show off your powers, all I did was ran away."

That was when the red car sped round the corner again and hit him.

* * *

"Liam, I said I was sorry," Ryan protested as he was led outside. "I really didn't mean to…"

"Get in the car," Liam said. "Drive."

"But I don't know how to-" Ryan began, but Liam shut the door on him. This was Liam's way of reasserting his leadership, Ryan knew. He may intimidate people into letting him win the fights, but he genuinely was a good driver. Especially when his opponent had never even had any lessons. Tom got into the other side of the car. Tom's ability was to undo any lock, hence his popularity with Liam, especially when breaking into cars. He tapped the ignition, and the car sprung into life. "Right pedal's accelerate, left's clutch. Middle's brake. You do realise you're going to be absolutely shit at this, right?"

"Yeah, well. I need to keep Liam happy."

Tom hesitated. "D'you want me to drive? They won't be able to tell while we're going along, and it'll save you looking like such an idiot. Switch back at the end, Liam'll never know."

Ryan nodded in relief. "Thanks. I wouldn't even know how to start it."

They swapped places, and Tom pulled away from the kerb. They followed Liam for a little way, before the red car (Liam always took the best for himself) began accelerating and drew away from them. Tom slowed down a little to allow Liam to win. As they rounded the corner onto Overman Terrace, they heard a thump and Liam's car stopped momentarily. Once it had continued on around the next corner, Ryan saw what had caused the noise. An old man lay in the middle of the road, unmoving and with a black boy standing over him.

"Shit!" Ryan exclaimed, "I think he's dead!"

Tom had turned pale. "But- but- it was Liam! Liam killed someone!"

The black boy turned to look at them. "Quick! Go!" Ryan practically screamed at Tom, the older boy taking his advice and accelerating off down the road. They had only travelled another few streets away when Ryan heard another noise- police sirens. "They must have found out about Liam! We need to go!" Tom nodded, and the two of them abandoned the car and sprinted away down the street. "Stop!" Ryan hissed, grabbing Tom's jacket. They peered around the corner, just in time to see three people jump _through_ a wall. The policeman who had been chasing them stopped and swore loudly. He turned and made to walk back to his car.

"Right, I think it's safe," Tom said, stepping out from the shadows and creeping around the corner. Ryan followed slowly.

"Stop," came a voice. Tom found himself face to face with the policeman who had been chasing the kids through the wall. He was holding a gun. "Did you see those kids?" he asked.

Tom shook his head. He began backing away.

The policeman seemed to be thinking about something, but evidently he reached a conclusion as he raised the gun and pointed it at Tom's head. "I'm sorry, but I don't actually believe you." There was a pause, less than a heartbeat, when Ryan felt he could feel the whole world revolving. The policeman fired.

It was instinct again, Ryan thought as he felt his power swelling inside him. In the blink of an eye, he found himself sprawled on the pavement outside the community centre. The sky had grown darker and the streetlights had turned on. He didn't know _when_ exactly he was, but he'd not travelled more than a few hours forwards or backwards at a time before so he assumed he'd only travelled to later that evening. He heard some sort of fight going on in the community centre, and moments later the doors opened and five people of about his own age burst out. One, with curly hair and an Irish accent, was talking loudly about not superpowers.

Ryan recognised the car as the same one that Liam had been driving earlier. It didn't stop this time either. The boy glanced off of the bonnet and rolled onto the ground. The others, apparently not particularly fazed by this, picked his body up and began running away with it. It would have been somewhat comical, were it not for the trail of still-warm blood which they left behind them. Ryan was intrigued. He followed them.

_Follow the trail of blood_, he thought. It's not exactly a yellow brick road.

* * *

Nathan awoke, spluttering and wincing, about fifteen minutes later. The others laid him down on the pavement and waited for him to get his breath back. "Right, what happened? How did I die? What's going on?"

"You were hit by a car," Curtis said. "The same one that killed Isaac."

Simon helped Nathan to his feet. "I've been thinking about something Cooper said. About wanting to take our powers."

"Well, he was clearly mental," Nathan pointed out, "I wouldn't take his word for it."

"But he could close the door telekinetically. And he knew we killed those probation workers." Simon replied, frowning.

"_You_ killed one, and Kelly killed the other. I think I'm in the clear this time."

"My point _is_, he must have got those powers from somewhere. And he thought he would be capable of taking our powers off us as well, which means…"

"The dealer!" Kelly exclaimed, "who we got our powers off! He must have got my old power, that's how he read our minds!"

"It's a possibility," Simon said.

They reached Seth's shop a few minutes later to find the door slightly ajar. Curtis pushed it open and they walked in, looking around in case the bodyguard was anywhere around. They walked through to the room where Seth had previously been dealing the powers, but it was empty. All of the lockers that lined the room were either emptied or had been broken into. There was a newspaper clipping on the table, which Alisha picked up.

_LOCAL MAN ARRESTED IN DRUGS BUST_

_A local man, Seth Greene, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of dealing illegal substances. Arresting officer Richard Cooper said at the press conference, "this is only the beginning of a new era of crime prevention." Reports that Mr Greene had in fact been dealing superhuman abilities have been dismissed by the police as "far-fetched"._

Alisha turned to Simon, her face ashen. "This is it, isn't it? This is how it ends."

Simon couldn't think of anything to reassure her. How could he?

"Yes," he said quietly, "yes, I think it might be."


	5. Interlude

**Author's Note:** As usual, none of these characters are mine. This is a short interlude before I get onto the last few chapters.  
_**

* * *

Day One**_

_17:36_- I arrived in my cell. Cooper slammed the door behind me and I listened as his footsteps echoed down the hall. "Dinner's at seven," he said. I waited.

_18:57-_ One of the guards came to collect me and take me to the cafeteria. I noticed that Cooper was still there. He tried not to make eye contact with me. I sat on my own, watching the other inmates eat. They all seemed to be hungry, except one. More on that later.

_19:54-_ Taken back to my cell. Noticed the guy who hadn't been eating on the way back. He was just staring straight ahead, and when he moved it was jerky, like a video game character or something. I tried to get a better look, but he turned around and headed back along the corner and the guard shut the door on me again.

_22:00-_ Lights out. I think I know what I'm going to do.

_**Day Two**_

_7:03- _Woken up by a warden who escorted me out to the rec room. Don't see why they insisted on me socialising with the other inmates, I was perfectly happy sleeping. Sat at a table and watched them again. There were two men sitting in the corner, neither of them talking to the other but obviously together. One of them was the bloke I'd noticed yesterday. I went over and sat opposite them.

The one I didn't know, a middle-aged man with greying hair, looked up. He didn't look the sort to be in prison. "Hi," he said. "I'm Dave. This is Vince."

"Seth," I replied.

"What did you do, then?" Dave asked, looking around. He was obviously trying to fit in and act tough, but I wasn't convinced.

"Drug dealer," I replied. "What about you?"

"Er… I killed two people. Well, three, but one of them didn't stay dead." He looked at me, worry in his eyes. "I get… angry, sometimes. When I don't mean to. They got too close to my daughter, I just went mad."

I looked at Vince. "What's his story?"

"He's not quite right. I don't know exactly. He thinks I'm called Crazy Larry and that he's here to break me out. He seems harmless enough though, I'm not too worried."

_8:13- _Me, Vince and Dave were sitting at the table talking (Me and Dave were talking, Vince was staring straight ahead) when someone else came charging into the room and bumped into us. I didn't really care, he went away again straight afterwards, but it must have done something to Dave because he stood up sharply and stared after him.

I looked at him, a bit worried, and I noticed he looked different. His eyes were streaked with red and his face was quivering slightly. His mouth bent into a snarl, and he leapt at the other bloke. Vince grabbed my arm. "Duck," he said simply, crouching low on the floor. Dave was wrestled to the ground by three of the guards, and led away. Vince stood up again. The danger had passed.

_20:21- _I met Vince and Dave in the rec room again. Dave was being watched by the wardens, but there was nothing they could do as he hadn't actually hurt the other guy.

"I can help you," I said, looking at the two of them. Vince hadn't said anything since he had told me to duck, but Dave replied, "Oh, yeah? How?"

"Give me your hand," I said, reaching out to take it. Dave looked wary. I concentrated my mind and felt his power shifting from him to me. I waited for a moment, then did the same to Vince. As soon as I let go of his hand, his face changed completely. His eyes focused, as if sliding out from behind a thick pane of glass, and he stared at me, confused. "Wh- what the hell happened?" He looked down at his hands, at the clothes he was wearing. "I remember playing that new game I bought, but…" He sat up, remembering something. "I think I left the window open, I… there was a storm!"

I stood up and left them to their new-found freedom. I had what I came for.

* * *

Cooper placed Seth's report on the desk, leaned back and looked at him. "And you're certain there were no more powers?"

"A few. I got telekinesis off one of the guards, and something I think is levitation. Other than that there weren't many."

"Right," Cooper said, standing up. "Follow me. I know where we can get some more."

"Where's that?" Seth asked.

"There's a gang of teenagers, joyriders, on the Wertham estate." He pulled a gun from his pocket. "Something tells me this is going to be a good haul."


End file.
